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An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:14 pm
by Carrie
Ladies,

I just wanted to give you an additional Christmas peek at a few other areas we'll be including within our new guide RTR. As part of the teacher-directed time, we'll be going through the book Looking at Pictures once each week. Here's a link to the publisher's description: :D
http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Lookin ... 82888.html

The book includes beautiful full-color pictures of many paintings and provides a narrative text that teaches details about the art of painting. It is very tastefully done and very appropriate for a more youthful audience. However, I enjoyed it as well. :D This fits so well with the renaissance time period and will help instill a love and understanding of the art of painting within the kiddos. :D

For Bible study, we will be scheduling a Philippians study that will go through the entire book of Philippians. It is titled "Hidden Treasures in Philippians", and you can peek inside it here: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... ew=details

This will go so well with the time period of the Resurrection to the Reformation, as we will begin RTR with Paul's ministry. We will schedule the Philippians study for the parent to lead twice weekly. Our plan at this point is for the kiddos to also memorize Philippians chapter 1 throughout the year and to have the option of singing it with The Bible in Stereo: Philippians 1 cd. Those who have done CTC, will already have memorized all of Philippians chapter 2 (along with the CD for that chapter from the same company). This will provide even more connections for the Philippians study in RTR, but it won't be necessary to have done CTC prior to doing RTR. :wink:

As far as poetry goes, at this point we are planning to focus on the poetry of Emily Dickinson for RTR. The teacher will lead the poetry readings once a week. :D While Dickinson was a bit of an eccentric there are all sorts of unproven claims about her life. We'll try to stick to sharing the known facts. :D In her lifetime she wrote approximately 1700 poems, and less than 6 were published during her lifetime. Her poetry was heavily edited and released after her death and often is seen in a quite changed form from her original poetry. She actually never titled her poems, but later editors added titles for her. She wrote many beautiful poems about nature and love, but seems to be remembered mainly for those she wrote about death. She is a major American poet and one worth studying for her many insightful poems. We will focus on her less heavy material and use as close to her original wording as possible. :D

One other teacher-led area will be the Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons from IEW. We are doing it this year with our oldest son and are reallly enjoying the lessons. The lessons have many natural connections to the history period studied within RTR, and the lessons are very well-done. We will schedule the lessons to be led by the teacher three times weekly but our schedule will keep the lessons purposefully short. Older students will have optional extensions for Day 4 if parents choose to use them.

While we have used other IEW products and found they were not a great fit for us, we find this particular product (written by a different author) to be refreshingly different. In searching for the best fit for each guide, we look for those products that match our philosophy best. We almost missed this product, due to thinking that all IEW products would not be a fit for us. Yet, as we're using the Medieval History-Based writing lessons this year, we find it to be very different from the Student Writing Intensive programs of IEW's that we used previously. :D Link to the publisher's website: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/MHW-T

While IEW highly recommends that you utilize their TWSS overview course or their SWI course prior to utilizing the history-based writing lessons, the author of the Medieval Writing Lessons has done such an outstanding job with her writing that it is possible to pick up and use the Medieval Writing Lessons without any prior IEW experience. Her writing exercises are enjoyable and interesting and tackle some of the needed writing skills for upper level writing in a more creative way. In addition our plans will guide you day-by-day in using the guide with little to no prep. or planning. It will help you and your student have a great guided experience in writing. :D

We do still plan to utilize Write with the Best Vol. II eventually, however it is suited for a much older audience than Write with the Best Vol. I. Since there are only 2 volumes of Write with the Best that left us searching for other options. While we do still love Igniting Your Writing, the author of those programs has let us know that they will not be reprinting them when their stock runs out (as they are retired and doing missions work). So, that meant Igniting Your Writing was also not a viable option for scheduling in our guides in the long-term. The Lord works all things for good though, as we'd never have discovered the book we've selected for writing lessons otherwise.

Blessings,
Carrie

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 9:19 pm
by juliekay
I love it all! I can't wait to see the pictures on the website for the full program! (I'm a very visual learner/buyer :D ) I can't wait to open that art book! Emily Dickinson's peotry is classic and wonderful. (Her lifestyle had some minor issues....) I think my boys will happily tackle that writing simply because the cover has the hilt of sword displayed on it! Hey, there's an idea! How about including those dueling pvc type swords to go - for dramatic oral narration! :lol:

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 9:27 pm
by Mommamo
Oh wow, that art book looks great! It'll only be 4 more years until we'll get to use it! :lol: I'm so thankful though that you share your plans with us. It really is wonderful to get to see where we're heading in future years.

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:57 pm
by Carrie
I just wanted to let you kow that I've added more description to my post above. I was short on time before and wanted to clarify a few things now that I have a little more time! :D

Blessings,
Carrie

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:49 pm
by juliekay
Carrie wrote: Our plan at this point is for the kiddos to also memorize Philippians chapter 1 throughout the year and to have the option of singing it with The Bible in Stereo: Philippians 1 cd. Those who have done CTC, will already have memorized all of Philippians chapter 2 (along with the CD for that chapter from the same company). This will provide even more connections for the Philippians study in RTR, but it won't be necessary to have done CTC prior to doing RTR. :wink:
Thanks for sharing this connection. My older 2 will be jumping from Preparing to RTR . Thus we haven't listened to the Philippians CD. I'm waiting another year before my middle child takes on CTC. Knowing that I will be using it for him eventually do you think it would be "too much" to go ahead and get it to go along with RTR since it is covering Philippians? We have SO SO SO enjoyed the audio selections for our Bible time in Bigger and Preparing! I don't want to overwhelm them as they will most likely do RTR with extensions. We also plan to take on Latin or another secondary language in addition to the other basics. Will there be Latin in RTR? I'm thinking there was discussion on this, but I don't remember if there was a conclusion as to what guide it would be included into. We are so enjoying Preparing that I don’t want it to stop, but these RTR selections and really the depth of them for my maturing young men is such an exciting blessing! I will continue to pray for you, Carrie, as you finish this guide as well as choosing materials to make this a phenomenal study!

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:45 am
by threegreatkids
Thanks for this Christmas blessing, Carrie...a peak into another amazing HOD program!
Just wondering about the writing program for a child doing separate left and right sides. For example, my oldest will probably do the right side of RTR while doing the left side of CTC (in a year and a half), so the Midieval Writing Program would not tie into her history. Should I go ahead and purchase Igniting Your Writing for that year, before it is gone?

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:28 pm
by water2wine
Wow that all looks great. I love it all. I love how you share with us. It is like shopping but you can just look and know this time you will actually use it, hahaha! So looking forward to this guide. It looks amazing! :D

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:00 pm
by Candice
Carrie,

Thanks so much for sharing your plans, I cannot tell you how much it means to see what you are planning.
It is so apparent how much your heart is involved with every little detail. What a blessing to have you navigate through all the different resources with your heart so fully invested.
I feel so very confident in following the educational and godly path that you have selected.
You are such a blessing to us, you have no idea!

Merry Christmas,
Candice :D

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:20 am
by Carrie
juliekay,

I think you could just go ahead and get the Philippians 2 CD from CTC and have your kiddos listen to it for fun over lunch perhaps? You could even do it over the summer or wait and do it during the year. :D The songs are word-for-word from the NIV version of the Bible. You'll likely be surprised how much of Philippians 2 your kiddos would know from just playing the songs. It's amazing how the words stick in my head, and I'm an "older" learner! :wink:

As far as Latin goes, we are thinking to offer it as an option in one of the next two guides after RTR. We will likely offer a choice between beginning Latin or beginning Spanish. Both programs will be mainly self-study for the students and will require an older, more mature learner. Depending on how full the guide becomes, the foreign language lessons may also be an option to use instead of dictation. But, we will still include dictation passages for those who need or desire that instead. In that way the foreign language wouldn't be a requirement, but rather an option. :D

Blessings,
Carrie

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:54 pm
by Carrie
threegreatkids,

If your child won't already have done Write with the Best: Vol. I, then I'd lean in that direction for her while doing CTC. If your oldest will already have done Write with the Best, then I'd likely lean instead toward having her do Igniting Your Writing II, as it is a step up from Igniting Your Writing I and will cover narrative, expository,and persuasive writing (while Write with the Best I will mainly have covered descriptive writing). :D

While it's not necessary to match the history with the writing, the Medieval Writing Lessons do match fairly well, making some interesting connections. :D

Blessings,
Carrie

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:56 pm
by Carrie
Thanks for all of you who have shared! I am blessed by your enthusiasm and spurred on by your prayers. It's always interesting to find the needed time to write a new guide while we're underway with school full-time, but knowing each of you may one day use the guides too is a blessing to me! :D Our constant prayer is that the Lord may be glorified through this work!

Blessings,
Carrie

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:47 am
by MommyInTraining
Carrie wrote: It's always interesting to find the needed time to write a new guide while we're underway with school full-time, but knowing each of you may one day use the guides too is a blessing to me! :D Our constant prayer is that the Lord may be glorified through this work!

Blessings,
Carrie
Thank you so much Carrie for your time and effort.

Still hoping to hear the announcement of those high school HOD guides in the coming years :wink: :wink: :wink: !

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:56 am
by juliekay
Dear Carrie,

Thank you for taking to time to answer my specific questions as well as others. Your encouragement in our homeschool means more than I can ever express. We are excited about continuing our journey through Preparing and as well as adding the Philippians CD this summer as well as perhaps adding Write with the Best - as per your suggestion to someone else! Many continued prayers for you and your family as you continue to make our homeschooling journey a joy! We cannot wait to see your new RTR package announcement on the website! I can’t wait to order it!

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:33 pm
by mamanlait
Carrie,
Do you have plans to do a study on some main voices of the Reformation during RTR? We have been reading a book written for children on John Calvin, The River of Grace, and I was thinking how nice it would be for others to read such God honoring historical fiction. It will be a few years before we do RTR but I'm all ready excited and looking forward to it.
Thanks,
Amy

Re: An exciting peek at a few areas of the new guide, RTR...

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:43 pm
by Carrie
Amy,

Mystery of History III has some wonderful bios. of the famous men of the Reformation, and we are also scheduling some of what we feel are the best books for reading aloud (and in the extension pack) for this time period. We looked very hard for books that bring this period to life, while still giving terrific insight into the men who gave their lives to the Lord's service. I think you'll be thrilled when you see the wonderful packages we have put together of truly living material for this important time period. :D The packages should be up some time in February as they are now in our web designer's capable hands. :D

Blessings,
Carrie